ST. LOUIS – A former church youth ministry volunteer from Rolla, Missouri on Wednesday admitted possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material.
Bradley Thomas Colvin, 52, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography. Colvin admitted searching for, viewing and downloading child sexual abuse material (CSAM) for years. Colvin had at least 833 videos and 5,566 images containing CSAM on four computers, a tablet, an external hard drive and five USB thumb drives, he admitted as part of his plea.
The investigation began when Colvin distributed child pornography via a peer-to peer file sharing program to an officer with the Missouri State Highway Patrol who was conducting investigations. After investigators conducted a court-approved search of Colvin’s home, he admitted during a polygraph examination having touched a minor for sexual gratification years earlier at a pool party to celebrate the end of Vacation Bible School.
Colvin is scheduled to be sentenced June 18. The crime carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will ask for 10 years.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Missouri State Technical Assistance Team investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
